[DetroitSky]

Construction to begin soon on Woodbridge townhome development

Soon joining the mix will be new townhouses attempting to fit in with the neighborhood’s historic character. Woodbridge Crossing will eventually be 12 homes in six buildings on Lincoln Street between Canfield and Calumet streets, just outside the Woodbridge Historic District.

Construction will begin the first phase of six homes in the next thirty days. The developer, Scripps Park Associates, hopes to have the buildings done within 10 months. Scripps Park also recently completed the massive, 467-unit Woodbridge Estates, a mix of affordable and senior housing east of Gibson Street.

Developer Eric Gold says the first three homes were financed with equity, though they’re close to securing a loan from Chemical Bank that will likely be used for the second phase of construction.

Gold also says the homes were designed to share features with others in the neighborhood, like wraparound porches, dormer windows, brick exteriors, and similar heights and scales. They also come with a two-car garage separated by a breezeway.

Detroit to invest $500M over five years to upgrade city’s water and sewer systems

Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced today that it will make a major investment in overhauling the city’s water and sewer systems. In a press conference in Russell Woods, where work is currently being done to replace a main water line, Mayor Mike Duggan, alongside DWSD President Gary Brown and Deputy Director Pelancia Mobley, said the city would spend $500 million over five years in upgrades.

The bulk of the money will be spent on replacing Detroit’s water and sewer pipes; Mobley said the average age of the city’s water mains is around 90 years old. As the city replaces water mains, it will also replace any lead service lines at no cost to homeowners.

In part, this is being undertaken to get ahead of the state’s revised “Lead and Copper Rule,” which requires taking action if lead levels exceed 15 parts per billion. Brown said Detroit’s levels, at around 4 parts per billion, are safe.

Detroit’s water system has around 2,700 miles of pipes, its sewer system around 3,000 miles—DWSD plans on replacing around 1 to 2 percent of those pipes per year, which Mobley said is much higher than most cities. For 2019, the city has planned 29 miles of water line replacement and 19 miles of sewer line replacement at a cost of $57.4 million.

Pedini showroom opens in Detroit

The modern, high-end kitchen designer Pedini has opened up a flagship store in downtown Detroit. The Italian-based company offers highly-customizable kitchen templates for both a single customer or developers looking to outfit an entire project.

The eight showrooms in the U.S. prior to Detroit’s location have been in more expensive markets like New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. But Pedini of Detroit co-owners Stefano Mularoni and Rami Chhatwal feel the city’s burgeoning loft market makes it a prime location for a flagship store.

“This market is ripe for this product,” Chhatwal says.

Dossin Great Lakes Museum to get event space, riverfront trail in $4.9 million upgrade

Belle Isle's maritime museum is getting a $4.9 million outdoor upgrade.

Construction is expected to start Monday on a four-phase project that would change the site the Dossin Great Lakes Museum has sat on since 1960, according to a news release from the museum's operator, the nonprofit Detroit Historical Society.

The historical society renovated the museum in 2013, but this latest project is the first time the whole museum property will be used for "historical interpretation and recreation," the release said. It comes after the Dossin has more than doubled attendance in the past five years, according to the society.

The society has raised $1.9 million of the total needed so far.

The first phase, $1.5 million, will run through November, the release said. It includes improving visitor amenities, outdoor artifact displays and signs; building a kayak launch; creating a Lost Mariners Memorial with a garden and seating; adding a riverfront event patio; and adding a riverwalk and observation telescope. Also being built in are elements to connect the museum campus with the under-construction Iron Belle Trail spanning the state — including bike racks and a cycle service station.

The construction contractor for the amenities phase is Detroit-based L.S. Brinker Co. and Detroit-based SmithGroup is overseeing design.

Nightclub, restaurant from Oakland County restaurateurs to open in Greektown Detroit

A restaurant and rooftop nightclub set to open in Greektown in coming weeks brings together Oakland County drinking and dining industry professionals with eyes on Detroit.

Christopher Johnson of New American restaurant The Meeting House in Rochester partnered with Anthony Mancini of Hamlin Corner and Pronto bar in Royal Oak to create a two-level venue on a prominent Greektown corner.

The Friend & Associate restaurant is expected to open in about two weeks in the former Santorini Estiatorio restaurant space on the corner of Monroe Avenue and Beaubien Street, according to Patti Kukula, executive director of the Detroit Public Safety Foundation and an investor in the venture. Mancini and Johnson are the main co-owners.

Friend & Associate is to occupy the 6,600-square-foot ground floor space, with Delmar Detroit in 5,400 square feet on the rooftop level above. Delmar debuts Friday and will be open Friday and Saturday nights to start.

JPMorgan Chase's Detroit investment growing to $200 million

Banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to increase its targeted investments and philanthropy in Detroit to $200 million, growing an initiative that began in the midst of the city's bankruptcy five years ago and has reached into entrepreneurship, job training and neighborhood redevelopment.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will be in Detroit on Wednesday to announce the bank has already exceeded its $150 million pledge and plans to spend another $50 million by the end of 2022.

This marks the second time Dimon and his team have increased the bank's commitments in Detroit after pledging $100 million over five years in 2014 in the middle of the Detroit's record-setting municipal bankruptcy reorganization.